In this paper, we address a problem on how to model agents that engage in natural conflict situations. We propose that, in order to create such natural conflict situations, we need to rely on the agents’ emotional reactions to situations. Emotional agents were created and embedded in a serious game, for helping children learning conflict reso- lution strategies. Agents have incompatible goals and respond emotion- ally to what happens in their environment. We conducted an evaluation to assess whether participants are able to perceive the conflict escala- tion process according to the agents’ emotional behaviour. The results suggest that actions intensity, which changes due to emotional states, conveys the idea of conflict escalation and conflict is perceived.

@inproceedings { campos12,
abstract = { In this paper, we address a problem on how to model agents that engage in natural conflict situations. We propose that, in order to create such natural conflict situations, we need to rely on the agents’ emotional reactions to situations. Emotional agents were created and embedded in a serious game, for helping children learning conflict reso- lution strategies. Agents have incompatible goals and respond emotion- ally to what happens in their environment. We conducted an evaluation to assess whether participants are able to perceive the conflict escala- tion process according to the agents’ emotional behaviour. The results suggest that actions intensity, which changes due to emotional states, conveys the idea of conflict escalation and conflict is perceived.},
address = {Eindhoven, The Netherlands},
booktitle = {Intelligent Virtual Agents IVA'2012},
keywords = {Serious Games;Intelligent Virtual Agents;Computer Games;},
month = {September},
pages = {105-111},
publisher = {Springer Berlin / Heidelberg},
series = {Lecture Notes in Computer Science},
title = {Virtual Agents in Conflict},
volume = {2702},
year = {2012},
author = {Henrique Campos and Joana Campos and Carlos Martinho and Ana Paiva}
}